The biopic, starring Farhan Akhtar as Mr. Singh, tells the tale of the Commonwealth Games gold medalist, from his battle for survival during the partition of British India in 1947 to the 1960 Olympics in Rome, where he lost out on a medal by a fraction of a second.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Akhtar said he trained for a year-and-half to get into shape for the role.

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Bhaag Milkha Bhaag has been praised by most critics, but some felt the more than three hour runtime of the film was too much to bear.

Here’s a roundup of what critics said about Bhaag Milkha Bhaag:

A review carried by the Indo-Asian News Service described the movie as a consummate biopic and a “near-flawless homage to the flying spirit of India’s greatest runner.”

“A handful of films sprint that extra mile beyond providing meager entertainment to its spectators. Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is one such cinematic experience,” film critic Taran Adarshwrote in a Bollywood Hungama review.

“There are a number of sequences that make you moist eyed, besides leaving an indelible impression,” he wrote, adding that the movie’s electrifying background score and cinematography elevated it to an exceptional level.

The reviewer was also impressed by Mr. Akhtar. “Right from his chiseled, athletic physique, the hair, the body language… Farhan has pushed himself beyond limits to illustrate the eminent and renowned character of Milkha Singh with precision,” Mr. Adarsh said. “This is an unblemished, memorable performance that should find a strong nomination in the year’s best performances.”

Mr. Adarsh gave the film four-and-a-half stars out of five.

Reviewer Madhureeta Mukherjee agreed, praising both the director and lead actor. “Mehra is brilliant at his craft… Farhan is fantastic,” she wrote in The Times of India.

“The movie transitions from flashback sepia tones to moods of present, without losing the grip of emotions, ever,” Ms. Mukherjee said, though she added that the runtime is long.

She gave the film four stars out of five.

But not everyone was impressed by the movie.

“Bhaag Milkha Bhaag does not offer anything new,” Aseem Chhabrasaid in his review on Rediff.com. He was impressed by Mr. Akhtar, but said even his performance cannot save a movie that is attempting to be an epic like Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi.

“Mehra’s three-plus hour film attempts to be an epic, but is really thin in plot and goes in so many different directions,” he wrote. “Mehra’s script writer — the very talented lyricist Prasoon Joshi — stuffs the film with segments that seem irrelevant and inconsequential to the larger story,” he added.

Mr. Chhabra gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of five.

Shubhra Gupta, writing for the Indian Express, was also disappointed. “The story of Milkha Singh is inspirational, doubtless… But the way the director tells it is much less inspiring.”

“If the film had kept it pared, toning down the trumpets which blare every time something momentous is about to happen, it would have been a more powerful testament to an all-time sporting great,” she wrote.

She also said Mr. Akhtar’s portrayal of Mr. Singh wasn’t always believable.

“Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is more the overlong, overblown Singing-Dancing-Flying Sikh, than just the triumphal, true Flying Sikh,” she concluded, giving the film two-and-a-half stars out of five.

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